Close shave for 6 firemen as building on fire collapses in West Delhi

Half a dozen firemen had a lucky escape as they rushed out of a building on fire in West Delhi’s Mansarovar Garden moments before it collapsed due to excessive heat on Monday afternoon.

Half a dozen firemen had a lucky escape as they rushed out of a building on fire in West Delhi’s Mansarovar Garden moments before it collapsed due to excessive heat on Monday afternoon.

A fireman escapes as a building on fire collapses during extinguishing operations at Mansarovar Garden in West Delhi. (Sourced)

No casualties were reported in the accident but goods worth lakhs were destroyed, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Kumar said the fire broke out around 4.30pm in the two storey building which has a warehouse storing paper plates and cups. Both the floors of the building were used for storage.

“A couple of employees who guard the building made a timely exit and escaped unhurt. The firefighting took nearly 15 minutes as soon after the fire engulfed the entire building, it came down,” said Kumar. He added that 10 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire.

However, a bunch of firemen who had entered the building had a closer shave, said the Delhi Fire Services (DFS). DFS Director Atul Garg told Hindustan Times that over half a dozen firemen were inside when they felt the building had started shaking.

In Narela around the same time last year, two firemen were trapped in a factory fire and choked to death. More recently in Vikaspuri, two firemen died while two others sustained major burns in a cylinder blast in an eatery in March this year.

Garg added that due to presence of combustible material, the fire spread rapidly and engulfed almost the entire building in no time. Asked if the building was an old structure and already dilapidated, he said that a heat induced collapse may not depend on the age of the building.

The cause of the fire is not known yet.